Happy Holidays Wreath Cake

I mean, ever since I got “100 Buttercream Flowers” by the amazing ladies over at Queen of Hearts Couture Cakes, I’ve had buttercream dreams. At this point, I’m pretty much convinced you can do just about anything with buttercream.

Don’t get me wrong, fondant is great and all, and I have TONS of respect for all the amazing cake artists who can turn fondant into amazing pieces of sugar art. Unfortunately, that’s just not me. Fondant is more of a sugary frustration (and subsequent disaster) in my hands.

Also, does anyone actually eat fondant?? 90% of people I know just peel it off…

Making it hard for my inner cake decorator not to be like, “I worked hard on making that edible sculpture so you will eat that hard piece of fondant and you’ll enjoy it!” Yeah, my inner cake decorator can be kind of a jerk… But I’ve heard if you stuff her face with buttercream she’ll go into a happy, sugar-induced coma. 😉

So with Christmas just around the corner, it seemed high time to pull out my piping tips and to whip up a giant bowl of buttercream. Nothing says “Christmas” quite like copious amounts of buttercream, right? Guuuuuys??

4-5 cups buttercream frosting (depending on how many layers you have to fill)

Food gel coloring in red, green, and brown

Piping bags

Piping bag couplers

Tips: Wilton #1, #2, #150

Assorted sprinkles (optional)

Instructions

Bake 2-4 layers of a cake of your choosing (I doubledthis recipe and added a teaspoon peppermint extract) and ice it with buttercream frosting (either store bought or homemade). Once you've iced your cake, use a small bowl or other round object to make a small imprint on the top of your cake. This will act as a guide for creating your wreath.

In several small bowls, color your buttercream brown, green, and red (be sure to leave a little white as well). You'll need mostly green, a couple tablespoons of brown, a couple tablespoons red, and a spoonful of white.

Spoon your brown frosting into a piping bag with a #2 tip. Using the circle you created earlier as a guide, go around and around to create the base of your wreath. The size and shape you create during this stage will really dictate the size of your finished wreath, so play around with it until you have something you like.

Spoon your green frosting into a piping bag with a #1 tip and begin piping your evergreens. To create the evergreen boughs, pipe a single line where you want the bough to be. Zigzag up and down each side of the first line you created. Repeat until you've filled out the wreath (you don't have to cover the entire brown wreath frame). If you plan on adding a bow in the middle, it's a good idea to work out from that point so that the boughs are facing in opposite directions where the bow should be.

Spoon your red buttercream into a big with a #2 tip and pipe berries of varying sizes onto your wreath. If you're going to add any sprinkle embellishments, this would be a good time to do it. Switch to a #150 tip for the bow. With one of the flat ends down, pipe the pieces of ribbon that will be hanging down. To create the bow itself, hold your bag so that the tip opening is in a vertical position, moving your hand in an upside down "U" shape to create each loop. Create as many loops as you want to fill out the bow.

Spoon your leftover white frosting into a bag with a #1 tip, and use it to add snow to your wreath. Sprinkle the "snow" with edible glitter or granulated sugar to create an icy look.